A friend prompted me recently with the question – What is the Church?
I’m not exactly sure what prompts that question in them, but it prompted me to throw the following ideas onto the page. I’m sharing them with you in the hope your find it stimulating. You may like to interrogate my ideas if they raise questions for you. Here’s my response to the question …..
I love your question about What is the Church? It’s a much littered rabbit hole, but central to what it means to be a Christian. And because there’s many facets to the topic, baggage from 2,000 years of ‘church’ in all its various forms, the topic can be a bit hard to wade through.
Let me hit a few high-lights on the topic and see if they go anywhere to your line of enquiry.
Church can mean the church universal, that mystical body of believers who are Christ’s bride, the body of Christ and the one who Jesus loves.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” Ephesians 5:25.
Church, in general usage, usually refers to a local group of Christians who regularly meet together (congregation), or to the network of such groups (denomination).
[Allow me to insert an old joke:
A boy asks his dad, “What Abomination are we, Dad?”
Dad responds, “It’s not Abomination, it’s Denomination!”
“Oh”, says the boy, “then what Demon Nation are we?”]
Everyone who puts faith in Christ is born again, God’s child, given the Holy Spirit, and automatically a member of the ‘church’ (mystical/universal).
So, “the Church” is that combined family of al who believe in Christ.
I met a chap once who came to faith by watching preachers on TV. He had been a Christian for about three years, but had never been to church.
He continued to rely on the preachers he heard on TV, and others he found online, for his spiritual growth and input. Yet, despite his disconnect with anything we would call a ‘church’, he was a member of the ‘Church’.
Most people probably accept the idea of the universal church, but get caught up in the local expressions of ‘church’, and all the things that separate Christians, such that whole denominations can despise others who are their brothers in Christ.
That’s a serious issue in view of Apostle John saying that we don’t really love God if we hate our ‘brother’ (fellow believer).
“If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” 1John 4:20,21
And note Paul’s comment about properly respecting the body of Christ (the church).
“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep (have died).” 1Corinthians 11:29,30.
Tensions and messes among churches have led some to abandon the church altogether. I’ve met several people who hold churches in contempt and who promote home meetings instead. I have friends who despise the modern church model, which they call “Church Incorporated”. I’ve had people share dreams they’ve had of how the devil is using some churches like a bird-cage to keep Christians trapped.
Yet I cannot allow myself to despise the ‘church’, since Jesus loves it so dearly.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27
Jesus did not die to uphold the Mosaic Law or Judaism. He died for the church. The Church includes all those who have relied on Jesus’ death for their salvation – different from those who rely on the law, or Levitical sacrifices as given by Moses.
So that’s the simple picture.
But I wonder if you are not also asking a different question.
The woman at the well carried a question that itched on the inside of her. “What is the right way to worship God?” It came out when she realised Jesus was a prophet.
“The woman said to Him, Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” John 4:19,20
Jesus’ reply is poignant in regard to the church.
“Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 21-24
The forms of worship, “in this mountain” or “in Jerusalem” were going to be done away with. Because worshipping God is not a matter of form, liturgy, approved practices, peer-reviewed procedures, or approved doctrines, but a matter of the heart to worship.
Even though the Jews know what they worship and salvation is through the Jews, the kind of worship that characterises the new entity (the church) is organic, from the heart, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, speaking the truth from the heart.
If you question “What is the right way to worship?” the answer is, from the heart, as a real exchange between you and your Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So let me rave about the Holy Spirit for a moment. Christianity is not a religion, but a Relationship with God through faith in Christ, as a born-again child of God.
Christianity is not a ritual but an expression of faith, made evident by the way we live (faith showing itself by what it does – faith with works – James 2:18).
Christianity is not a human process but a work of the Holy Spirit, causing us to be born again by the Spirit (John 3:3-6).
Christianity is not lived out by human effort, but by the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer who yields to the Holy Spirit. We are to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), pray in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20,21, 1Corinthians 14:15), defeat our flesh by the Spirit (Romans 8:13), show the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23), seek and operate the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 12:31), be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and be spiritually minded (Romans 8:6).
What makes this complicated is that people are subject to a range of influences that compete for their attention and keep them from walking with God.
In our self there is the ‘flesh’, with its tendency to works (self-reliance – Galatians 5:19-21), lusts and pride (1John 2:16). It’s the old “Girls, Gold and Glory” temptations, plus the desire for power and control.
We are also weak in our humanness, so we fail to live up to our own expectations (Matthew 26:40, Romans 7:18).
We clash with others, due to competing self-interests (James 4:1-3).
We also live in the world, which we are not supposed to love or be part of (John 17:16). The world is under the power of Satan (the prince of this world – John 14:30). The world opposes us (2Timothy 3:12).
Then we have the direct attack of Satan and his minions (2Corinthians 2:11, 1Peter 5:8).
With all these, and other pressures the church is meant to survive and thrive.
And all these competing interests interfere with our spiritual lives, and the expressions of church which we create.
A church congregation could be a community of people filled with the Spirit, dead to their flesh, led by the Spirit and living in the power of the Holy Spirit, or a community of people who are slaves to religious ideas, trapped in a cult, powerless to live a victorious life in Christ.
Ideally we are all to be continually transformed (Romans 12:2), changed from one degree of glory to another (2Corinthians 3:18), crucifying our flesh with its affections and lusts (Galatians 5:24), putting to death our human impulses and weaknesses (Romans 8:13), led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and more.
But then we have self-interest, pride, the demand of our mind that we understand what is going on and are in control of the process, plus competing ideas about how things should be done, and so on.
So we have churches that are highly hierarchical, such as the historic churches – Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican. Others are anti-central authority, such as Brethren, Baptist, Church of Christ. Others are eldership led, such as Presbyterian.
We have churches that are highly ordered, with approved liturgy, and others that are highly informal. Some churches are doctrine driven, even demanding that everyone subscribe to the approved set of beliefs, while others allow each Christian to come to their own convictions on various matters.
I was in a jungle-like area in India, about to preach at a Pentecostal church, when I heard organ music not far away. It seems there was a traditional church of some kind only a hundred metres away, which preached against the Pentecostals. In Albania the local mosque blared out a warning about me as the stranger in town preaching at the Christian church. That I can understand, but it seems out of place for Christians to do the same thing.
Is there a perfect church? The humorous answer is, If you find one, don’t go there or it won’t be perfect any more.
How does it work, if it doesn’t work?
Amazingly, despite Protestants fighting Catholics in Ireland, or Cessationists opposing Pentecostals, or churches splitting over some doctrine or other, or churches torn apart by someone’s sins and personal weakness, Christ loves the church. Apparently he is not shocked or appalled at the confusion and contention that goes along with ‘church’.
Our part is to at least be the people of God, filled with God’s Spirit, loving our brothers and sisters, led by the Spirit, dying to self, inviting the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth (John 16:13), worshipping the Father in Spirit and in Truth.
How’s that for a ramble around the paddock!
I hope something in there aids your own personal journey and reflections.
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